


remember

by gardevoirite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 02:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17520425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardevoirite/pseuds/gardevoirite
Summary: Shiro needs everything here to be perfect.He double checks everything he has. Blankets, food, a cheesy romantic ambience that definitely won’t work, but will make Keith laugh. Even the night is perfect, with a full moon and thousands of stars in the sky. Even after spending years up there, the view of the night sky on earth is unparalleled.Keith should be on his way by now, under the pretense that this is just another regular date. He’d be able to see how nervous Shiro is in a heartbeat. He has to get himself to calm down. He doesn’t want to give his plans away so quickly.Keith wants to reminisce on old memories. Shiro wants to make some new ones.





	remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HedonistInk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedonistInk/gifts).



> An (incredibly late) Paladin Secret Santa gift for HedonistInk! I am so sorry this is late but i hope u enjoy it!!;;

Shiro needs everything here to be perfect.

He double checks everything he has. Blankets, food, a cheesy romantic ambience that definitely won’t work, but will make Keith laugh. Even the night is perfect, with a full moon and thousands of stars in the sky. Even after spending years up there, the view of the night sky on earth is unparalleled.

Keith should be on his way by now, under the pretense that this is just another regular date. He’d be able to see how nervous Shiro is in a heartbeat. He has to get himself to calm down. He doesn’t want to give his plans away so quickly.

He clutches at his chest, feels his heartbeat running a mile a minute. Focuses on his breathing, imagines Keith standing in front of him, telling Shiro to follow his lead. In, out, in out.

Okay. He can do this. It’s just Keith, after all, and he is the one person Shiro trusts with all his heart.

As if on cue, the door to the rooftop opens, and Shiro turns to face it.

And there he is.

It doesn’t matter how long it’s been. Shiro is sure he’ll never get used to Keith lighting up at seeing his face, to Keith stifling a laugh at the ridiculous amount of candles he set up around the picnic blanket and the cheesy music he put on his datapad.

Keith has to step over the ring of candles that surround the blanket, and Shiro is more than happy to offer his hand to help him through. Keith is still giggling quietly by the time he sits down.

“What? You don’t like it?” He puts on a fake little pout for good measure, and Keith’s dying laughter comes alive again.

“I love it. Don’t cry now.” Keith pinches his cheeks, and it’s as if his touch is all Shiro needs for his face to flush pink. “It’s just… so you to do something like this.”

“Can’t a guy try to impress his boyfriend every once in a while?” Shiro asks, taking Keith’s hands and folding them in his own.

“Color me very impressed, Shiro. Don’t worry.”

And now all he wants to do is kiss Keith silly, so he does, tugging him closer by the hands and pressing their lips together. He can still taste Keith’s laughter when he kisses Shiro back, moves his hands away from Shiro’s grip so he can put them over his cheeks.

Keith moves away too soon, thumbs ghosting over his cheekbones one last time before he lets go. Keith always did run a little warm, but Shiro wonders if the lingering heat is from his touch or from his own giddy embarrassment.

“Are we too early?” Keith asks, settling into the blanket. “What time is it?”

“A quarter past one. The shower doesn’t start for another thirty minutes, but I figured we could eat while we wait.”

“With this romantic atmosphere? How thoughtful.”

“I do try.” He throws out a wink for good measure, delights in the light pink on Keith’s cheeks.

The food he brought isn’t too fancy, but Shiro catches how Keith lights up when he sees two matching orders of the sandwich they get at the shop they frequented near the Garrison, and the bottle of Galran wine Krolia happily supplied him with. It’s honestly a little too strong for him, but Keith can happily drink it like it’s water on certain nights, so he can put up with it for one night. Besides, he needs a bit of the liquid courage.

Keith lets out a little _heh_ that draws Shiro’s attention. “What’s up?” He asks.

“Nothing, just – this reminds me of something.”

“Oh?”

“Mm. I was still in the hospital. You brought me these for dinner because you knew I was sick of the hospital food.” Keith side eyes him, and he remembers.

He’s blushing so hard now, he knows, that it’s probably spreading to his ears. “Keith. No.”

“We ended up talking for so long visiting hours ended. You remembered you still had paperwork due the next day.”

“Stop—“

“You were so out of it you said, ‘bye, love you,’ as you were leaving the room.”

“Keith,” he cries, thoroughly embarrassed now as Keith laughs.

“And then—“ Keith continues through his laughter, “And then you realized what you just said. You were so mortified you weren’t watching where you were going and you—“

“I think I know how the next part goes, thanks!” Shiro says loudly, moving forward so he can try to cover Keith’s mouth, but Keith evades him easily.

“You ended up tripping on the chair and bumped your head on the doorway.”

“ _Keith_!” He cries again, and he can feel his face burn at the memory. It certainly wasn’t his finest moment, and admittedly not how he wanted Keith to find out about how he feels.

Still, watching Keith try to catch his breath from all his laughing thinks it might have been all worth it. Maybe.

“It wasn’t all bad, right?” Keith asks him once he’s calmed down slightly, elbowing Shiro’s arm lightly. “I was allowed to go with you to the infirmary and I kissed your giant head bump.”

“There are worse ways to find out your feelings are returned, I guess.” Such as having the confession ripped out of Keith after he was almost killed by him – but that’s a memory he doesn’t want to dwell on tonight, and neither does he want Keith to remember.

“The next time you visited me you had an ice pack on your head.” The playful grin on Keith’s face fades into something softer. “You kissed me the minute you walked in.”

“I figured if I couldn’t do the confession right I could at least kiss you without messing it up.”

“It was perfect. You could’ve done anything and it would’ve been perfect.”

“Hm. Maybe because it was you I was kissing.”

“Okay, smooth talker.” Keith pushes him lightly, but the way he’s biting back the growing smile on his face tells Shiro everything.

“Took you on a great first date too, didn’t I?” Shiro asks, smiling at the memories that are starting to flood back to him.

“Mm. Took me away to have a hoverbike race the second I was discharged. Finally beat you too.”

“We went back to the old mall we always hung out in. A third of it was destroyed but we still got to watch the Voltron on Ice show they recreated.”

The memories come pouring in for both of them, from their first date to the second to the third, from their clumsy first time to their road trip just a few months ago. Their entire timeline laid out in front of them, and Shiro realizes as they go on that there couldn’t be a better time to do it than now. While they’re reminiscing, while they realize everything they’ve been through to make it to this point.

Keith is talking about their beach trip last summer with the rest of the team when they both notice the first meteoroid blaze through the sky, just for a split second.

“It’s starting,” Keith whispers.

Quickly, Shiro has his Altean hand put out the candles surrounding them with his fingers, covering themselves in darkness and having just the stars to light the surroundings. The second meteoroid appears, followed by a third, a fourth. They watch in awe as more shooting stars appear, slowly lighting up the sky as more and more blaze past.

The amount dwindles soon after the first few seconds, but it’s still mesmerizing to watch, all the lights flying through the night sky. He’s sure he’s seen close to everything the universe has to offer, but there’s something about seeing it on Earth that makes it feel special, sweeter.

The shower slows down to just a couple meteoroids eventually, and though it feels like hours it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. He sneaks a glance at Keith, smiles when he catches Keith looking at him and blushing when he realizes he’s been caught, eyes drifting back towards the sky.

It has to be tonight. He can’t imagine a better scenario than this.

“Keith?”

“Yeah?” He’s trying to act casual, refusing to look at Shiro as if he wasn’t ogling him just a few seconds ago. Just that makes Shiro feel hopelessly endeared and in love.

“Look at me, please?”

There’s a confused little frown on Keith’s face as he obeys, turning his head to look at Shiro. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course, just—“ He takes a moment to take a big breath in, then out, discreetly puts his hand in his pocket to fish out the little velvet box. “I gotta tell you something.”

“Okay.” It’s as if Keith’s forgotten the beautiful view above them, turning his whole body to face Shiro. “I’m listening.”

He had a speech ready, he thinks, remembers all the papers he burned through with his pen that all ended up in the trash until he managed to write something worthy of the man in front of him. It could be in his other pocket, but now – now he feels like everything he has to say will come out, no matter what other stupid things could go right along with it. He knows what he needs to say.

“You’re everything to me, Keith. That doesn’t even begin to tell you how much you mean to me, actually – you’re everything and so much more, so much that the universe can barely contain you. Sometimes I think that you choosing me must have been some kind of… mistake. I don’t know how I can match up to you.”

“Shiro,” Keith says, quietly. “You’ve always been the one right thing in my life. You would never be a mistake.”

“I think… I think I know that now. Because of you. I may have started mentoring you all those years ago but I don’t think you realized how much you taught me. You taught me I could live my life on my terms. You taught me that I was worth fighting for. You showed me I had good inside of me. You showed me the impact I have on the people I care about, how much I mean to them. To you.”

Keith is silent. He’s taken Shiro’s hand, the one not hiding the velvet box from view, holding on to it lightly as he absorbs everything Shiro’s said.

Shiro plows on. “You also taught me that I need to fight for what I want, too. Fight to keep the people I love with me. And I… Keith, after everything we’ve been through together, all I want is to be with you forever.” He takes his hand out of his pocket, clutching the box tightly. “I would’ve knelt, but I figured it’d be too cheesy.”

“Shiro,” Keith whispers, eyes widening. His fingers clutch tightly on Shiro’s other hand, now.

Shiro wouldn’t dare let go, so he flicks the box open with one hand. He knows Keith would love the ring – a band of pure meteorite, with luxite inlaid across the middle of the ring. He would be in Krolia’s debt for a long time.

He lets Keith take in the ring for a few seconds, then takes a deep breath in. It’s now or never. “Keith. Will you marry me?”

Maybe he just imagines what feels like hours of silence afterwards, but suddenly Keith tackles him into a hug, pushing the both of them to the floor. Before Shiro can say anything Keith is holding him by his cheeks again and kissing him.

There’s that wave of relief as he kisses back, his free hand coming up to tangle his fingers on Keith’s hair. He can feel droplets of water fall on his cheeks as Keith kisses him over and over, the hands on his face starting to tremble.

Shiro moves his hand from Keith’s head to his shoulder, pushing him away slightly so he can break the kiss. Keith’s eyes are still watery, tears threatening to fall over Shiro’s face again. The wide smile on his face is all Shiro needs to see, but still, he needs to ask. “Is that a yes?”

“ _Yes_. God. Of course I will, Shiro, you’re my everything,” Keith is babbling, his hands stroking Shiro’s face, wiping away the tears he left on his skin. “You’re everything. I love you. I wanna be with you for the rest of my life.”

“You will,” Shiro whispers, and when Keith leans back down to kiss him again, he lets him.

It’s Keith who pulls back this time, after who knows how much time has passed. He sits up, takes Shiro’s hand to help him up as well. He keeps their hands intertwined, and his voice is watery when he speaks. “Well?”

“Oh! Right!” Shiro picks up the box from where he left it beside him and plucks the ring from the cushion. In one smooth motion, he slides the ring on Keith’s finger. The luxite glows as it settles on Keith’s skin.

“You’re incredible,” Keith whispers, reverent, staring at the ring in awe. “How did you even find this?”

“I had a bit of help with Krolia,” Shiro admits. “I just – wanted to get something you would really feel is a part of you.”

“I love you,” Keith whispers, looking up at him. Shiro’s never seen him like this, all watery-eyed and red-faced, but with the sweetest smile he’s ever seen, one that Shiro knows is reserved for him and him alone.

“I love you, too.” It’s as easy to admit as breathing. Then, with a laugh, he says, “So, is this enough for you to forget the hospital incident?”

Keith snorts, laughs loudly again, wiping away more tears from his eyes. “No way. But I won’t forget this, either.”

**Author's Note:**

> Lowkey made that the title bc im salty ariana dropped ‘remember’ from her fifth album :/
> 
> My twitter is @softlysheith if u wanna hmu <3


End file.
